Wizards and Warriors don't mix
by Dragonlover2006
Summary: When a Thunderclan patrol is captured by strange magic-wielding humans, they are taken into the wizarding world as pets. Now, with the help of a certain unregistered Animagus dog, another OC unregistered Animagus, and Crookshanks, the cats must find their way back to the forest.
1. Stolen from the forest

**I'm not sure whether or not I'll continue this. It depends on how interested I am in it. I haven't started chapter 2 yet.**

Chapter 1

It had been Thunderclan's newly appointed deputy, Brambleclaw's idea to extend Thunderclan's territory away from the lake. "We might need more hunting grounds," he'd said, "and the other clans can't do anything; it's not their territory."

So, after some discussions among the senior warriors, a small patrol was sent to scout out the land.

When they came back a few days later, claiming that the only threat they'd come across was one badger, Firestar gave them permission to begin scent-marking.

It was not until the Thunderclan leader himself joined them in the exploration that disaster struck.

The scent in the abandoned twolegs' nest gave away no hint to any activity. It stood, overrun with rodents, beside a small stream.

An obvious place to check out.

And that was all Squirrelflight remembered. She certainly didn't remember how she got locked up in a pitch-black enclosure that stank of twolegs.

But she could guess.

It had been two hours since she had awakened, and as if her temper couldn't have gotten any worse already, she hadn't been this hungry since just before they had left for the new territories. Her hunger was so bad it hurt right now. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Yes, she had clawed desperately at the walls. She had gouged deep scratches into the material, but it was so dark that she couldn't see if it had made a difference. No light had been let in. Either she had gone blind or the enclosure was made of and incredibly strong material, stronger than even the strongest wood back home.

Squirrelflight had lost track of how much time she had sat in the dreadful darkness, hunger gnawing at her insides before the space she was in gave a violent lurch, and somehow she knew that she was moving.

She yowled desperately, wanting to get out before she was taken even further away from the forest, but it had no effect on the thing that was moving her.

Sighing in defeat, she slumped back to lie on the base of the cage.

…

Brambleclaw wasn't really sure what was worse, sitting in a dark space that was being carried by something, or being able to see that his capturers were twolegs, and watching as they inspected his clanmates one by one, moving towards him.

And worst of all, he couldn't hear a word anyone was saying. He and his clanmates had been trying to communicate since they had been allowed their sight, but there was something in the cages that prevented their words from reaching each other.

At some point, the twolegs- a short one with bushy brown hair and a tall one that looked like it was a million moons old- must have reached an agreement because the short one nodded and reached towards one of the cages and took a cat out. Brambleclaw realised with relief that, although it was a cat huddled in the twoleg's arms, it was not one of his friends. The cat was put in a different cage and given to the twoleg kit.

But his fear returned when the twoleg put the other cage under it's arm and reached back to grab the handle on Squirrelflight's cage. As it reached in to drag her out and put her in a different cage, her yowling was surely only outdone by his own as she was taken away. Or perhaps Firestar's. Either way, the other clan cats soon realised that they were powerless. The twoleg with her cage disappeared out the- was it some kind of nest?- without looking back.

Squirrelflight was gone.

…

Several days passed. Several days of watching their friends get taken away until only two remained. Brambleclaw himself and his clan leader, Firestar. If Brambleclaw had to guess, he would say that it was because these twolegs weren't particularly enthusiastic about his dark brown fur, or the deep scratches around Firestar's neck. He ducked his head and studied his paws, still guilty about what had happened only 5 days ago. They were the only two cats left in the den, which only increased their chances of being taken. His claws unsheathed at the thought of being taken by twolegs and being separated from his only remaining clanmate.

He snuck a glance at the twoleg who was distributing them to the small twoleg kits. It was sitting behind the counter, waiting for more of them. Brambleclaw hoped that glaring meant the same thing to twolegs as it did to cats.

As if feeling the warrior cat's burning gaze, it glanced up. Brambleclaw hadn't a hope of understanding what the lips curling upwards at the corners meant, but he was guessing it wasn't good.

Before the twoleg could do anything else, a sharp note of sound came from the door. Brambleclaw had been here long enough to know what it meant.

Another twoleg had arrived.

…

"Make sure you get a good quality one. Not some mangy cat off the street."

"Yes, Grandmother," Neville responded nervously. It would not do to argue, even when he knew that the Magical Menagerie was not a shop that would sell cats off the streets.

"And nothing over 30 galleons."

"I know."

Neville quickly took his leave. He scurried into the shop like a mouse being hunted by a cat.

"Hello," greeted the shop owner. It was just like Neville to forget his name.

"H-hello," he stammered, "I'm looking for a cat."

"Oh," it could have been the young wizard's imagination, but the glint in the shopkeeper's eyes faded somewhat. Still, he kept his cheery façade as he said, "we have two excellent cats in the back here."

"Only two?" he asked.

"Yes. They've been highly popular among you young wizards this year."

"I'm not surprised," Neville agreed, "Harry Potter's best friend brought a cat this year."

"The young witch with the bushy brown hair? She brought two," the shopkeeper told him, "anyway, here are our cats."

Neville ran his gaze over the two cats in the shopkeeper's care. One was a dark brown tabby with a slightly disturbing amber gaze. The other was a fiery red tom who was glaring through green eyes. Neville started as he realised it was hurt.

"What happened to it's neck?" he asked. He flinched, realising his grandmother would be cross if she found out that he had questioned the quality of one of the best magical pet shops in Britain in front of it's owner.

The shopkeeper shrugged, "it came in like that. I would guess it got caught in some muggle trap."

Neville almost snapped something back, but he managed to calm down. "It's wild caught?" he asked.

"Yes. I expect they'll need some serious taming down, but nothing you won't be able to handle," the shopkeeper told him.

Neville stepped closer to get a better look at the wound. It was very well cared for- supposedly by the shopkeeper, and was healing well. The injury was almost healed.

"In fact," the shopkeeper added, making Neville jump out of his trance, "it would be quite good if these two could go together. Perhaps you could take both?"

Neville looked at the price tags. The cats were 20 galleons each, "I don't have enough for both of them…"

"I'll give them both to you for 30 galleons," the shopkeeper decided, "and I'll throw in the cages and some basic supplies. That within your budget?"

Neville glanced back at the two cats, feeling sympathy for the fact that they could be good friends. He almost backed down when he thought of the reaction his grandmother would have when she realised that he had two cats instead of just one, but then he hardened his gaze, "it's a deal," he said.

The shopkeeper clapped his hands together in satisfaction, "excellent," he exclaimed, "and one more thing. I've been experimenting with some spells that could allow them to understand you better. May I try them?"

Neville was uncertain. On the one hand, it would certainly help if these cats could understand even half of what he was saying. On the other, he was pretty sure it was illegal to use spells that hadn't been approved by the Ministry.

He shrugged. What harm could it do? "Alright," he agreed.

…

Brambleclaw fought the urge to yowl in fright when the small twoleg kit opened his cage and reached in to grab him. He hissed, causing it to jump back. He took the opportunity to leap out and run quickly towards Firestar's cage. He was biting desperately at the lock when he was suddenly grabbed from behind by the younger twoleg and held with his legs dangling helplessly into thin air.

He looked at where Firestar still crouched in his cage. Was the twoleg kit going to leave the Thunderclan leader behind?

Firestar looked desperately at his deputy, but when it became apparent that there was nothing he could do to help, he turned his gaze to glare fiercely at the twoleg.

The older twoleg came up to him with a slim stick held in it's hand. Brambleclaw almost froze from the fright that came of wondering what it would do to him. He struggled harder, and was sure that his sides would hurt later from the pressure on his ribs.

The older twoleg said something and tapped him. A strange sensation flooded through him- as if ice cold water was seeping through his blood. It was neither a good nor a bad sensation, and by the time Brambleclaw had returned to his senses, he was being shoved into the cage.

"I don't know how well that will work," the older twoleg was saying. Wait, saying? How was he understanding this?

"At least it didn't kill him," the twoleg kit pointed out.

"Do tell me if it works. Do you want me to do it on the other one?"

"Yeah, that would be helpful," the twoleg kit said eagerly.

Brambleclaw didn't really pay attention to what happened next as he was still startled by the fact that he could _understand _the _twolegs._

Maybe that was what the twoleg had done to him. It certainly seemed like it would be in range of their technology, judging by the monsters that went by on the thunderpaths.

Firestar was in his cage quicker than Brambleclaw was, mostly because he didn't fight too hard. Brambleclaw wasn't surprised. He wouldn't be particularly eager to be the only clan cat left in this unfamiliar twoleg territory.

…

Brambleclaw listened, fascinated to the conversation that was taking place above him.

"But I want to at least persuade them that I'm not a threat," the twoleg who had taken them, who Brambleclaw had noticed was called Neville, was saying.

"We don't have time," said his grandmother sternly, "you'll miss the train."

Neville let out a huff, "I just don't want to lose them as I lost Trevor," he argued.

"You won't, cats are much harder to lose than toads," she assured him.

Brambleclaw wondered what a train was.

_Oh, well, I'll find out soon enough, _he promised himself.

…

He did find out soon enough. A train was like a huge long monster that could carry hundreds of twolegs all at once. It thundered towards the platform at a high speed.

Neville seemed to take his time with getting on the train with the other twolegs. He stood talking to his grandmother for a while, but hurried up when a sharp whistling sound came. Brambleclaw observed from the other twoleg kits' responses that it was a warning that they were about to miss the train.

Inside the giant monster, there were two rows of compartments, each with enough space for about six twolegs. The twolegs entering them were all kits or very young adults, so Brambleclaw guessed they were going to be apprenticed, or something like that. He wasn't sure about twoleg ways, but he guessed they had to learn to fight somewhere.

Neville found a compartment apart from the other twolegs, where he quickly pulled the door shut. He placed his luggage, including the two cats in a heap on the floor and sat down.

"R-right," he said, glancing around self-consciously, "can you both understand me?"

Brambleclaw looked questioningly at Firestar, who was still looking at the twoleg kit. Finally, they both nodded.

Neville grinned, "great!" he exclaimed.

"Is he going to let us go?" Brambleclaw asked his leader.

"No idea," Firestar shrugged.

"I'm going to let you out," Neville was saying, "but you have to promise not to run away. There's nowhere to go, anyway, we're on a moving train."

Brambleclaw nodded.

"OK," Neville reached forward and undid the catches on both the cages, then leaped back.

Brambleclaw cautiously pawed the cage open, seeing Firestar do the same. They both climbed out and Brambleclaw realised that he had not been out of a cage freely since his capture, apart from short releases to eat and… other stuff when he was in the twoleg den. He quickly stretched, then turned his amber gaze to Neville, wondering what the twoleg was going to do next.

Before anything could happen, the compartment door was thrown open, and another twoleg kit entered. She was slightly taller than Neville, but even a cat could tell that they were about the same age. She had green eyes and the fur on her head was a dark ginger. Like all the twolegs here, the rest of her fur was black. Brambleclaw wondered if, because twolegs had a terrible sense of smell, they had to distinguish their clans by fur colour.

The twoleg shut the compartment door and said, "hi Neville. Ooh, did you get cats?"

"Yeah," Neville agreed, "I was supposed to get one, but the shopkeeper said that they were brought in together, so I thought they might be friends."

Brambleclaw blinked, the wave of gratitude taking him by surprise. Was that why Neville had taken both of them?

"They're so beautiful," the twoleg wasn't looking at Neville but at the two warrior cats, and even Brambleclaw could see the admiration in her eyes, "what are their names?"

"I haven't named them yet," Neville told her.

Brambleclaw looked between the new twoleg and Neville. What was their relationship? Was this twoleg Neville's mate? Did twolegs even have mates? Neville seemed a bit young, but still…

"Really?" asked the twoleg.

"I was waiting for you," Neville said, "you're good at this sort of thing."

"Ginger and Fluffy!" she suggested instantly.

Brambleclaw bristled, while Firestar looked mutinous.

"I'm joking! Pets really do understand every word we say, don't they?" she said brightly, "alright, I'll have to think about it."

Neville looked at the cats, worried, "could you do me a favour, Ren?" he asked suddenly.

"Sure," the other twoleg- Ren- agreed.

"I- I'm not sure I can look after them both at once. I was only expecting to get one," Neville said.

"Of course!" Ren said happily, but then her face fell, "I can't go in Gryffindor dormitory, though. I'm a Ravenclaw."

Neville waved a hand, "Percy won't mind."

"Percy's only a prefect."

"He's Head boy, now," Neville countered.

Brambleclaw pricked his ears. These were words he could sort of understand, if he did a bit of guessing. There were clans where these people were going. Two of them were Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Head boy must be the equivalent of leader, and prefect was deputy. So this must be a sort of gathering.

Ren still looked uncertain, so Neville said, "It'll be fine! No one will even notice you're not a Gryffindor. And if they do, well, what can they do about it? Fred and George bring friends in all the time!"

Ren looked uncomfortable, "alright," she said

Brambleclaw turned to Firestar, as he had lost interest in the Twolegs' conversation, to see his leader's ears still pricked up.

"I know how we can get out of here," Firestar said, "if that twoleg is planning on trespassing on another twoleg clan's territory, we just have to make sure she gets caught. Then we can escape while she distracts them. There's no way they'd catch us then."

Brambleclaw nodded, deciding not to point out that there were plenty of other ways they could distract the twolegs without stirring up trouble within the twoleg clans.

"We don't know how strict they are with their borders, though," he pointed out worriedly.

Firestar looked at the two of them, "if they're anything like our clans, it'll incite a serious battle."

Brambleclaw glanced at Neville. He knew that the two of them needed to get away from the twolegs, but something stopped him from purposely trying to get Neville in trouble. He didn't know why, but he liked the nervous twoleg kit. He wasn't like the ones who had destroyed the old home.

He didn't know where this sudden sense of loyalty had come from, but he wouldn't be satisfied until he had said, "we need to find the others before we do anything. Maybe they're being taken to the same place as we are."

Firestar shot him a long, searching look, and Brambleclaw got the feeling that as a former kittypet, his leader knew exactly what was troubling him.

But to his relief, if Firestar knew that Brambleclaw was starting to like the twoleg, he made no sign of it. Instead, he considered his deputy's point for several moments and said, "alright, that would be a good idea. But if we don't find them in a few days, we'll have to think about how we're going to alert the other uh- 'Gryffindors' to the trespasser."

And so the two cats continued plotting, unaware that they had gotten the Hogwarts system entirely wrong.

...

**I don't know how good that was. Let me know what you think in the comments! I'll decide whether or not to continue and maybe start chapter 2.**


	2. Cats vs Rat

**I forgot to add the disclaimer! Neither warriors nor Harry Potter belongs to me.**

Chapter 2

It had been nearly a week, and the patrol, along with their leader and their deputy, had not returned.

"Maybe they got lost," suggested Dustpelt.

"It's certainly a possibility," said Cloudtail gravely.

"What are we going to do when the Gathering comes? We can't just turn up without Firestar, he has to address the clans," Mousefur said, voicing everyone's thoughts.

The three cats were sat near the fresh-kill pile, heads lowered.

Finally Dustpelt acted on their fears. Despite the nervousness born from the gesture, which could be seen as an act of rebellion to the other cats, his words came out steady, "let all cats who are old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the highledge for a clan meeting."

Awkwardly the cats assembled. Dustpelt was surprised that none of them complained that he had no authority to do such a thing, and decided not to bring attention to that particular detail.

"As you all know," he began, "Firestar, not to mention Brambleclaw, went missing several days ago."

He paused, waiting for the challenge to his words. When none came, he sighed.

"The gathering is coming up and we need to decide who's going to address the clans."

Silence. Absolute, total silence. You could have heard a leaf fall in the camp as every cat stared at Dustpelt with emotions ranging from contempt to relief. He supposed the matter must have been on their minds, too.

Then, "Sandstorm can do it."

Dustpelt nodded sarcastically at Spiderleg's suggestion, "Yes, she could. Were she not missing as well."

Spiderleg ducked his head in embarrassment.

"Don't make him feel bad, Dustpelt," Rainwhisker berated him.

"I'm just saying, we need a plan," Dustpelt said before the clan could dissolve into a pointless argument, "I was thinking I could-"

"Oh, so that's what you called the meeting to do. Seize Firestar's power while he's not here," Thornclaw said angrily.

"It's a suggestion," Mousefur was quick to leap to his defence, "he's not trying to seize anything."

Dustpelt sighed and looked up in exasperation as they began to debate about his ambitions.

_Oh, Firestar, where are you?_

…

"Hey!" Squirrelflight protested, "my father's the leader of the whole of Thunderclan. They'll find me! And you'll BE SORRY."

The bushy-haired human took no notice, which Squirrelflight wasn't surprised about. The other cat who had been taken with her, however, raised his head, "they can't understand us," he said, "and they won't hurt us anyway."

Squirrelflight growled at him, "you're a kittypet."

When he didn't respond, she took a moment to take in the appearance of the other cat. He was a large ginger tom with a flat-looking face- which made Squirrelflight think he had run face first into a tree- and an overall lionlike appearance. His fur looked permanently rumpled and scruffy, and it was very thick.

"What's your name?" Squirrelflight asked after several moments of awkward silence.

"The tailless' are calling me Crookshanks," the cat said simply.

"I'm Squirrelflight," said Squirrelflight.

"The tailless' will definitely change that," Crookshanks promised as he rested his head on his paws- Squirrelflight took this as a sign that the introductions were over, "you'll see."

…

Squirrelflight didn't like Crookshanks, but she trusted the other cat's advice.

"If you want to find your friends," the fluffy ginger kittypet had said, "you should allow this twoleg to take you with her. All the twoleg kits go to the same place, and they're pretty much the only ones who take cats from the pet shop."

So here the warrior was, crouched in a kittypet cage, snarling at the bushy-brown-haired twoleg who was anxiously sat in front of the wire mesh.

…

"Do you think there's something wrong with her?" asked Hermione to Ron. She was watching the smaller of her two purchased ginger cats as it snarled and spat at nothing in particular. Ron had suggested several times that the display of aggression was aimed at her, but she couldn't think of a single reason the cat would be angry with her.

Ron, who, unsurprisingly had been of no help at all, said dryly, "if you ask me, it can only be a good thing. Scabbers doesn't want two of those thing chasing him around."

Hermione pursed her lips, "so you've said."

As if the mere mention of the rat's name was enough to bring up Crookshanks' hatred, the fluffy cat raised his head.

"See," Ron said, noticing, "that cat has got it in for Scabbers."

"Don't be ridiculous, Ron, cats can't hold grudges," Hermione said, in her no-nonsense voice, "he's probably just angry at getting woken up," she put her hands on her hips and added, "by your stupid voice."

She stormed out of the room, and Ron was left to shrug and turn to the aggressive cat, "honestly. You'd think I was the one hissing and spitting at her."

…

Squirrelflight was awoken from her fitful sleep by someone tapping on the door of her cage. She raised her head and realise it was Crookshanks, "what are you doing, mouse-brain? I'm trying to sleep."

"It's midday," Crookshanks protested.

Squirrelflight looked up at the light pouring into the window and realised Crookshanks was right. Still, she would not admit defeat to the infuriating kittypet by leaving the matter unargued, "it's not like I have anything better to do, locked up in here all day."

Crookshanks nudged the catch and opened the cage, "that's why I'm getting you out."

She pricked up her ears, "really? I can go? Have you found my friends?"

Crookshanks huffed, "No. And you can't go away yet. I want you to help me."

"With what?"

"That infuriating rat. I've been chasing it all day, but it's so elusive that I'm suspicious," Crookshanks hissed.

"You woke me up," Squirrelflight stifled a yawn, "to help you catch a specific rat that you haven't been able to catch."

"There's something about that creature," Crookshanks protested.

Squirrelflight rolled her eyes, "ok, fine, but then can I sleep?"

"Sure."

Crookshanks led Squirrelflight to one of the twolegs. Squirrelflight recognised the tall ginger kit who had been making comments to the bushy-haired kit while Squirrlflight was threatening her. Her fur instantly stood on end. She didn't like him. She didn't like him at all.

"Why are we here?" she asked her new friend.

"That tailless is the owner of the rat," said Crookshanks. Already he was stalking the twoleg.

Squirrelflight looked at the sleeping twoleg. She didn't want him to wake up and tell the other twoleg that she was out of her cage. She began to back slowly towards the exit, ready to bolt if he showed any signs of waking up. Luckily, Crookshanks' attention was firmly fixed on a small bulge in the twoleg's pocket, and he didn't notice the other cat's cowardice. Crookshanks clearly was not an experienced warrior, nor any kind of warrior.

Squirrelflight might have gotten away, if Crookshanks had thought of a better plan than just pouncing on the twoleg's chest, where the rat was huddling.

The twoleg awoke with a yelp; he must have thought he was being attacked (and for good reason). The moment he realised what was happening, he leapt up and threw Crookshanks off. Squirrelflight dashed forward, concerned about her new friend, and nearly got kicked in the side for her troubles. The twoleg was furious. He quickly went in pursuit of his enemies. The two cats bolted, making for the door through which they had entered.

And ran straight into the bushy-haired twoleg as she entered the room to see what the fuss was about.

…

"RON!"

Ron winced, knowing he was in trouble.

Hermione stood in front of him, Crookshanks pressed against her chest, his claws dug into her shirt from terror. It could have been Ron's imagination, but the infuriating fluffy cat was looking slightly pleased with himself. Still, Hermione's attention was wholly on her ginger-haired friend, and she didn't seem to notice the smug aura that surrounded the creature.

"Ron, you could have killed them!" Hermione was still waiting for an explanation.

"They were going after Scabbers. They've teamed up against him, now. How do you expect him to recover from his illness if there's two of the vicious animals after him?"

"They're cats, Ron, I can't stop them from chasing rats," Hermione sighed as if _he _were the one that was being unreasonable.

"And what's that other bloody beast doing out of it's cage?" he cried, glaring at the smaller one who was crouched at Hermione's feet.

Hermione looked stumped, "I don't know," she said, her brows furrowing. She looked questioningly at the cat, who continued to stare at him. Even the _cats _had it in for him now.

They might have stood like that all day, had Harry not chosen that moment to intervene.

"Hi, guys. Have you seen- what are you two doing?"

Ron didn't take his eyes off of the little fiery red cat at Hermione's feet, "those mangy creatures keep targeting Scabbers."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Harry, tell him he's being ridiculous. Cats _don't target specific animals."_

Harry stared between them, unsure of which side to take, then turned away, hands up in a gesture of hopelessness, "I'll leave you two to it," he said.

_I'll have a word with him later, _Ron vowed before checking to make sure the cats hadn't stolen Scabbers, and leaving in the other direction to go to his room.

Hermione sounded slightly relieved when she next spoke, "I'd start packing if I were you. We're leaving early tomorrow.

He limited his reply to a grunt.

…

Squirrelflight had decided not to be too aggressive towards the twoleg. They had reached an unspoken agreement. The twoleg would take her to where her friends were likely to be and Squirrleflight wouldn't try to kill her. So she was allowed out of her cage more, and had more opportunity to go after the little rat that had gotten her and Crookshanks into so much trouble.

The only problem being that the rodent spent most of his time within the protection of the grumpy ginger twoleg.

"Squeaky little coward," snarled Crookshanks. They were crouched near bushy-haired twoleg as she helped ginger twoleg to put all his stuff in a little case.

Squirrelflight scented the air, "he must stay in that twoleg's pelt all day! The scent's only coming from that place."

"Don't twolegs change their pelts?" Crookshanks asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah, he must come out then, but when will that be?" Squirrelflight agreed. She stalked forward to a pile of spare twoleg pelts- or whatever they were called, and sniffed them, "I definitely smell him on them, but the scent's quite stale. I'd guess he changes once a day."

Crookshanks shuddered at the thought of shedding his pelt, "twolegs are so weird," he said.

"No kidding. A clan of twolegs completely tore down the forest where my clans used to live. We all had to move!"

Crookshanks shuddered, "that must have been awful."

"It was," Squirrelflight quickly told him the full story of the prophecy from Starclan and the quest she and her friends had been on. When she'd finished, Crookshanks nodded, "well, at least you made it. There are plenty of clans of cats who wouldn't have been strong enough."

Squirrelflight had a feeling that Crookshanks knew more about these things than he let on.

"There!" Crookshanks hissed suddenly, interrupting Squirrelflight's thoughts. He had spotted the rat poking his head curiously out of the twoleg's pelt.

"He doesn't look too good, does he?" Squirrelflight observed as they ducked further behind the doorframe. The rat's fur was missing huge clumps, and he seemed to have visibly lost weight since Squirrelflight last saw him three hours ago.

"No," Crookshanks shook his head, regarding the rat with a serious expression.

They didn't have much more of a chance to observe their target, because at that moment, the ginger twoleg spotted them crouched around the corner and began to shout angrily. They scurried away, deciding to leave the two twolegs to argue by themselves.

…

The next day there was no opportunity to chase rats, as the twolegs seemed in rather a hurry to leave the den. The cats, and their quest for the little grey rat, were forgotten in packing, shouting and all the other nonsense twolegs had to do in preparation to move camp.

Crookshanks and Squirrelflight ended up back in the small cages that they had been brought in, nervously awaiting their fate. It came, a few hours later, in the form of two twoleg monsters that pulled up outside the door. The twolegs wasted no time cramming themselves in.

Squirrelflight had never been in a monster before, although, it seemed, Crookshanks had. It wasn't as bad as she'd expected. Once she was used to it, she hardly noticed that she was moving, and even started to enjoy the sensation of travelling fast enough to reach her destination within a few hours.

All too soon the monsters pulled up near a large gathering of twolegs. They were standing on a stone platform that was raised above two lengths of the shiny stuff twolegs often used. Below that was a lot of pieces of wood, arranged in a way that would support the long beams, which went on far into the distance and curved out of sight.

Her group of twolegs didn't stop there, however. They continued until they reached one of the pillars that was supporting the ceiling. Squirrelflight looked around, wondering why they had stopped. That brick pillar was the same as all the others, wasn't it?

Or was it? Squirrelflight could be imagining it, but there was a strange field of power surrounding the unremarkable structure. A similar one to the one that surrounded all the twolegs that were in their group. Squirrelflight had already gained the suspicion that these twolegs weren't ordinary twolegs.

As if to prove her point, the larger ginger twoleg and the shorter black-haired twoleg with the scar on his forehead strode right up to the wall. Looking around, they leant on it.

And fell right through it.

Squirrelflight blinked, wondering if her eyes were tricking her.

No, they weren't. The twolegs she had seen falling into the solid surface were no longer in their group. And two more- the tallest twoleg- the bossy ginger one- and the short female ginger twoleg kit were walking towards it. Were they investigating it?

No. The twolegs were unaffected by the strangeness of their friends' disappearance. As she watched, they too disappeared through the barrier.

Squirrelflight glanced at Crookshanks, wondering if the other cat was also confused by the display. Apparently, he was. There would be no explanation coming from him.

Squirrelflight was so lost in confused thoughts that she almost didn't notice that the bushy-haired twoleg that was holding the cats had begun to move forward until she was alarmed by the barrier moving closer. They were taking the crossing at a run.

Faster and faster they moved. Squirrelflight squeezed her eyes shut, wondering if she should bolt from these- apparently mad- twolegs if the cage was to pop open when they crashed. She would find her friends some other way. But the crash never came. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

To find herself in a completely different place than the one she had just been in.

…

The monsters that had carried them to this place were apparently not the last ones Squirrelflight would see today. On the platform where they had emerged was a huge one. It had a round head and a funnel through which steam was belching through, and Squirrelflight realised that she had found the reason for the two long pieces of shiny material on the ground below the platform.

Behind it, and unmistakeably attached to it, were an uncountable number of smaller monsters, with windows looking towards large, comfortable-looking sitting areas, each enough for about six or seven twolegs.

Some twolegs were already in the monster, while others shared tongues on the platform beside it, apparently exchanging heartfelt goodbyes with their loved ones.

Some of the twolegs that had come through the barriers with her instantly went over to greet friends of theirs. One in particular- the ginger bossy one- went over to greet a female twoleg- possibly his mate- with his chest, where the shiny thing he'd been bragging about all morning was pinned, so that she could see it.

_This is just like a gathering, _Squirrelflight realised, looking around at all the mingled crowds of twolegs. She had never seen so many twolegs in her life.

_But what's the reason for that monster over there? _

Maybe it was what the clan leaders stood on to talk to the twoleg clans. But somehow she doubted that the clumsy twolegs would want to climb onto something like that. Why wasn't there obvious hand holds? And why was there steam coming out of it?

Squirrelflight was left to ponder those questions later as the twoleg carrying her began to move towards the giant monster, having said her goodbyes to the others.

…

It's incredibly annoying to be forced to listen to others talking when you can't join in. It's even more annoying when you have to listen in on a conversation when you can't understand a word the other people are saying. Squirrelflight might have started talking to Crookshanks out of sheer boredom, but the other cat's cage was on the opposite side of the carriage, and Squirrelflight doubted the twolegs would appreciate the two of them yowling at each other across the space.

So she was stuck trying to guess what the twolegs were talking about from their expressions and reactions.

The ginger one was explaining something to the other two, but the bushy-haired one was trying to interrupt, looking exasperated. Then they were arguing again.

_Great Starclan! Do twolegs ever stop arguing?_

Squirrelflight gave a huge yawn and began to curl up in her enclosure, but before she could, the bushy-haired twoleg moved towards her, and, much to the horror of the ginger twoleg, let her out of her cage. She was still talking calmly to her fellow twolegs, but they weren't listening anymore.

Ginger twoleg gave an angry shout and shoved Crookshanks, who was already reaching for Scabbers, off.

The two cats sprang away from the fight that was bound to occur as a result. They curled up together on the empty seat, watching attentively for movement from their rat target.

The journey in the long monster was, at first, as uneventful as the journey in the littler monster earlier. It also wasn't as fast, and Squirrelflight didn't see any other giant long monsters on the way, making her suspect that this was the only one. The thoughts of, '_where are we going?' _and, '_what are these twolegs going to do with us?' _were less scary when she could look forward to the possibility of finding her clanmates when she got there.

There was an older twoleg with a trolley that went by with some food, and Squirrelflight managed to steal some of the food that was given to the twoleg kits to share with Crookshanks. (The two cats never stole food from twolegs again, owing to the strange colourful blobs that looked so inviting but tasted so horrible).

And for a while, the rat never poked his head out of the twoleg kit's pelt. Squirrelflight was almost beginning to think he'd died. But there he was when the food came out, his curious face looking around for morsels he could snatch.

Squirrelflight stopped Crookshanks before the other cat could pounce, "don't, mouse-brain, the twoleg will catch you. Let's wait until we can see more than just his head."

It wasn't long before flying endlessly through the countryside in a twoleg monster, no matter how fast they were going, began to get very boring.

...

It was several hours before anything remotely exciting happened.

Almost the moment Squirrelflight began to drift off to sleep, she was jolted awake by the compartment door sliding open. The twoleg that had opened it had a pale complexion, and an unusually pointed nose. He stepped in, gazing around with obvious disregard. She gave a soft hiss. However horrible she thought the twolegs who had taken her were, somehow she knew that this twoleg was much, much worse.

As if to prove her suspicion, the twoleg was flanked by another pair of twolegs. These ones were much bigger than any twoleg kit she'd seen so far. One was tall, but no doubt he had muscle. He had little fur on his head, but what he had was black. The second was shorter and slightly fat. He had a head of wirey black hair. Neither looked pleased at their present company, but maybe their faces were just stuck that way.

The black-haired twoleg with the scar gave what must have been the twoleg equivalent to a growl, and said something to him.

Apparently ignoring him, pale-haired twoleg targeted his gaze at the ginger twoleg kit who sheltered the rat. Whatever he said in that sneering voice, it must have hit it's mark, because the other twoleg sprang up, snarling something fierce. The black-haired one followed him, whether to join him should a fight break out or stop him from doing anything drastic, Squirrelflight didn't know. The bushy-haired one remained seated, observing the performance with the same icy disdain she seemed to hold for everything.

Before the pale-haired twoleg could do any more damage, he stiffened. There was a quick exchange, in which the black-haired twoleg sounded triumphant. Then, with one final cold look at the room in general, the pale-haired twoleg took his leave.

Squirrelflight looked around for the cause of his sudden retreat. Her eyes fell on the final twoleg in the room. He was a brown-haired twoleg adult, and he was fast asleep. Judging by the respect twoleg kits held for their adults, Squirrelflight decided to see the mystery as solved, and went back to her much-needed sleep.

...

Brambleclaw had found sleep for most of the journey. His dreams were troubled, but not quite nightmares. He dreamt he was running through an unfamiliar forest. He couldn't remember how long he'd been walking, just that he needed to get somewhere, fast. Then he woke up, with the feeling as if he'd forgotten something.

He was so busy pondering over what the dream meant that he'd forgotten the actual reason that he'd woken up.

Something was wrong.

He was colder than he'd ever been in his life. And suddenly, although he knew logically that the problems he was facing right now were nowhere near as bad as what he had faced in the, past, everything seemed hopeless.

How would he ever find Squirrelflight again, when she had been taken by that twoleg to who knows where? How would he ever get back to Thunderclan, and would they even be there when he returned? There was no guarantee that no trouble had befallen the forest while the warriors had been gone. Especially with Hawkfrost's recent betrayal. And what was he doing? He shouldn't be relying on twolegs. He shouldn't feel any loyalty, or compassion to the creatures who had destroyed his home and driven his clans to travelling midwinter with no clear directions to follow. He was a disloyal disgrace. He was a-

Brambleclaw's thoughts might have continued on this track for many moons, had Firestar not suddenly noticed his deputy go rigid, "Brambleclaw? Are you alright?"

He jolted out of his pessimistic mindset, "y-yes. What's happening?"

"I don't know."

Neville and Ren seemed just as confused as they were.

"Why have we stopped?" Neville asked.

"I don't know," Ren said, her voice shaky, "but we can't be there yet. I don't like this."

Brambleclaw started. He hadn't noticed that the train had ceased to move. But there it was, painfully obvious. Something a trained warrior like himself should have noticed instantly. What was wrong with him? Was he becoming useless?

"We should ask Harry," Neville said with certainty.

Ren nodded.

_Maybe Harry's their clan leader, _Brambleclaw guessed. Clan leader or not, this Harry was certainly a figure of respect for the twolegs. And if he was, he would have more of an idea than Brambleclaw, with his muddled mind, did.

So when the twolegs left the compartment together, he was quick to follow. Firestar was too, but maybe he was just following Brambleclaw to tell him what a bad idea it was to wander out of a 'safe position' to trail two twolegs he hardly knew into possible danger.

He did not, however, comment on Brambleclaw's poor judgement.

The trip to Harry's compartment was thankfully uneventful, but Brambleclaw did accidentally tread on Firestar's tail once, earning himself a hiss and a glare.

"Sorry," he had muttered, ducking his head.

Harry had turned out to be a small black-haired twoleg kit- clearly not a clan leader- who was huddled in a compartment with two twolegs and two cats.

One of the twolegs was tall, with ginger hair and a rather bemused rat with it's head sticking out of his pocket. He had one hand pressed fearfully against the window of the compartment, trying to make out what was happening outside.

The other was a female kit with bushy-brown hair. She was watching the others a lofty, exasperated expression, as if she knew perfectly well what was going on- which Brambleclaw guessed she didn't- and simply wasn't going to explain the situation to anyone else.

There was a cat with them; a fluffy ginger kittypet which looked like a small lion who had recently smashed his head against a hard surface.

It was the fourth member of this rather strange group that made Brambleclaw gasp in shock.

He stared at the familiar red she-cat in disbelief, "Squirrelflight?"

...

**Sorry if this chapter felt rushed, I just got carried away with Squirrelflight and Crookshanks vs Scabbers, (which was very fun to write)!**


	3. Why twolegs are afraid of the dark

**Disclaimer: I still don't own warriors or Harry Potter.**

...

Dustpelt was dreading the Gathering. Contrary to the beliefs of the rest of his clan, he was not the kind of cat who rejoiced at the prospect of standing in front of all four clans and explaining confidently how both the clan leader and clan deputy had gone missing.

But his personal preferences were knocked aside, and here he was, standing with Leopardstar, Onestar and Blackstar in that very position.

He was so nervous that he forgot to listen to Onestar's unremarkable report on his clan's new warrior.

"Dustpelt, perhaps you would like to go next," Onestar prompted, stepping back and flicking his tail.

Dustpelt took a deep breath, refusing to let his reluctance show.

"As you may have noticed," he began, "Firestar is not present today, and neither is our new deputy, Brambleclaw."

Judging by the attentive silence, his audience had noticed.

"They were on a patrol to explore the furthest parts of our territory with several of our warriors, and find out what was beyond. They have not returned."

Worried muttering broke out. Dustpelt wondered how many of them were theorising on what might have happened, and how many were discussing how easily Thunderclan could now be invaded, since all their figures of authority were missing. Not to mention the absence of several warriors. Dustpelt swallowed nervously. Had it been wise of him to purposely mention the patrol, rather than just say Firestar and Brambleclaw had disappeared?

Nonetheless, he waited calmly for silence before trying to fix his mistake, "however, many of our warriors remain, and I have assumed temporary authority. Thunderclan is not weakened _in any way."_

Nervous as he was, Dustpelt caught the sceptical expressions on most of the audience's faces.

They hadn't bought it.

…

Looking back, Brambleclaw realised how lucky he and Squirrelflight had been to have been taken by twolegs who were friends with each other. Any cat who had any brains would calculate that the odds of that were very low.

But in the moment, all he could think about was that she was _right there, _unhurt and unharmed. His earlier worries were discounted, and he was left with only relief.

Before anyone could stop him, he had bounded over to her and touched noses with her in greeting. She returned the gesture before he was suddenly grabbed from behind by Neville.

"I'm sorry," the twoleg was saying, and Brambleclaw realised that the twoleg had tripped over someone in his haste to chase his cat, "I wasn't expecting him to cause trouble!"

Brambleclaw yowled in anger. Cause trouble? He hadn't been causing trouble. What did this twoleg think he was, completely mad?

But Neville paid no mind to his struggling. He was concentration on scrambling off Harry's legs with his arms occupied with restraining Brambleclaw.

"What's happening?" Neville squeaked to his fellow twolegs, bringing Brambleclaw back to the other pressing matter at hand.

"Do you think we've broken down?" the ginger-haired twoleg worried.

"Dunno," Harry responded nervously.

Brambleclaw didn't realise how anxious he was until the squeaking sound from the ginger twoleg's hand wiping the moisture from the window almost made him jump out of his skin.

"There's something moving out there…" the ginger twoleg whimpered, staring out into the darkness.

Brambleclaw saw Squirrelflight's hackles raise, and the cat who was with her let out a long hiss.

Ren, who had been standing outside the compartment for most of the time, took this opportunity to take a seat next to the bushy-haired twoleg, who acknowledged her with a brisk, "hi, Ren!" to which she gave a nod. Brambleclaw realised that Ren must be in a different clan to this twoleg, if he was any kind of judge.

He had a second huge shock when a yowl announced that his genius twoleg owner had attempted to plonk his big bottom on Squirrelflight's friend, who, having none of it, had scratched viciously at him.

When Neville was settled, the twolegs in the room turned their attention back to the mystery of why the train had stopped.

"I'm going to ask the driver what's going on," the bushy-haired twoleg said matter-of-factly.

She stood, and almost made it out the door when, having the poor night-vision of twolegs, she collided with a ginger-haired she-twoleg coming in. They both yowled.

"Who's that?"

"Who's that?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

Now that they had both identified each other, he saw them relax a bit.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"Looking for Ron," Ginny told her.

"Come and sit down."

Once again, the poor vision of twolegs was proved when Ginny almost sat on Harry.

"Not here, I'm here," the black-haired twoleg told her frantically.

This time she did manage to sit down, but Neville still found himself with a squashed foot, "ouch."

"Quiet!" This voice was new, and commanded a calm authority akin to a clan leader. Brambleclaw twisted, still restrained by Neville, to see that a twoleg adult, who he had hardly noticed sleeping in the corner, was staring around at the young twolegs.

Whoever he was, the twoleg kits seemed to respect him, because they didn't speak again.

A moment later Brambleclaw had to look away as a bright, flickering orange light filled the space around them.

The adult twoleg was holding a handful of fire.

He resisted the urge to hiss and spit when the other cats calmly stood their ground. Brambleclaw couldn't tell if it was because they were all frightened of the recent events or if they were all waiting for a signal from the others that it was a moment to be aggressive.

Besides, there were far more things to think about than whether or not these twolegs were normal.

A cold, empty sensation had crept up on Brambleclaw, like he had been slowly drenched in a pool of ice-cold water. It made his hackles raise and drew a long, sharp hiss from his mouth. Judging by their sudden discomfort, the others felt it too.

The twoleg with the fire found his attempt to reach the door foiled when it opened.

The thing that came through the opening was like no twoleg Brambleclaw had ever seen. It towered over the twoleg adult, and was covered from head to toe in long, black fur which drifted, as if in an invisible wind. The only flesh Brambleclaw could see on it were it's long, skeletal fingers poking from the concealed arms.

And the sensation it brought was not normal. The chilling feeling grew until Brambleclaw no longer felt engulfed by water, but ice. It was an invisible coating of misery that surrounded this creature. In it's presence, Brambleclaw felt like he could never be happy again.

A sudden gasp drew his attention. Harry was staring at the creature, wide-eyed. Then, with not a sound, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed to the floor.

The creature drew in one last rattling breath, giving Brambleclaw the ominous feeling that it was scenting the air, looking for something, then drifted out of the door.

Harry did not get up again.

…

It was the black-haired twoleg which had remained neutral in the ginger haired twoleg and the bushy-haired twolegs arguments that went down first.

As if that was it's only mission, the stranged cloaked twoleg backed out of the compartment door and disappeared. So did the icy-cold feeling, to Squirrelflights relief. It was still there, in the background as the creature continued it's search, but for now it had been reduced to an almost bearable level.

While the cats remained frozen in confusion and shock, the bushy-haired twoleg had moved to crouch beside her friend.

She made a sound which seemed to be his name several times. But it was not until the monster was moving and the lights were back on that he finally stirred.

"What's wrong with him?" Crookshanks asked her nervously as the twoleg was helped up. He remained unsteady.

The twoleg adult remained calm compared to the other twolegs in the room. As Squirrelflight watched, he appeared to explain something to them, before offering around some of the solid brown stuff she had seen the twolegs eat earlier. Then, apparently finishing his explanation, he disappeared out the door.

The twoleg kits remained in shocked silence for a moment before continuing the conversation. The black-haired twoleg kit was inquiring about something, but without an understanding of the twoleg's language, Squirrelflight could only guess what was bothering him.

Brambleclaw and Firestar had taken advantage in their twoleg's lapse of concentration to make their way over to her.

"Oh, thank Starclan," Brambleclaw said, rushing over to press his muzzle to hers in their second greeting of the day, "I thought I'd never find you."

Squirrelflight squeaked with mock indignation, "of course you would. Did you think I couldn't take care of myself?"

"No, no, of course not," Brambleclaw said hurriedly, before noticing the amused glint in her eyes and relaxing.

He then backed away to allow her father to greet her.

She allowed herself to be washed away in relief for a brief moment before inquiring, "Do you know what happened to the others?"

Brambleclaw looked slightly guilty, "no, they were taken before us."

Her stomach clenched with worry for the missing warriors, especially her mother, Sandstorm.

"Are these your clanmates?" came Crookshanks' voice behind her.

"Some of them," she agreed, "this is my father, Firestar, and my- my mate, Brambleclaw."

Crookshanks nodded politely to them.

She turned to her clanmates, "this is Crookshanks," she gestured in his direction, "he's been a huge help in understanding the world of twolegs. If it hadn't been for him, I might've run away from those twolegs before I could find you."

Firestar dipped his head to the other cat, "thank you, Crookshanks."

Looking rather taken aback at the formality, Crookshanks scuffed his paws, "it was nothing," he said at length.

"We need to find the others," Squirrelflight said, "do you remember if the twolegs who took them were kits?"

"I think Sandstorm was taken by a twoleg adult," Firestar said, his fur fluffed up with panic.

"Oh no," Squirrelflight whimpered.

"It's not just twoleg kits who go here," Brambleclaw said in an attempt to calm her down, "there was an adult in the carriage with us."

Squirrelflight nodded, clinging on to that hope with all she had.

…

The twolegs were silent for the remaining journey to their destination. Brambleclaw didn't know whether it was because they were in shock or because there was a mix of clans in the compartment. He didn't really care, as it gave him and his clanmates a chance to talk.

Brambleclaw and Firestar quickly explained to Squirrelflight and Crookshanks how the twolegs had somehow made them understand their language.

"What!" Squirrelflight yelped "that's impossible."

"We were amazed, too," Brambleclaw said, "But it's true."

"You're mad," Crookshanks said dismissively, "Squirrelflight, you didn't tell us your clanmates were mad."

"They're not," Squirrelflight bristled, "And they wouldn't lie."

Crookshanks muttered something under his breath, clearly not convinced.

"Crookshanks, we've seen some crazy things since we were taken by that twoleg, haven't we?" Squirrelflight pleaded, "what about that solid wall we went _through _on the way to this monster? And that creature with the aura of unhappiness? And that twoleg with the handful of flames?"

"All crazy things, yes," Crookshanks retorted, "but an entire language, not to mention a twoleg language, just learned in an instant? You can't ask me to believe that."

Squirrelflight hissed crossly, lashing her tail. Brambleclaw could almost feel her frustration like he could feel the black-cloaked creature's sadness. She had grown close to this cat in the last few days and now Crookshanks wouldn't listen to her or her clanmates.

Finally she said, "alright, then, don't believe them. _I, _however, am going to."

There was a flash of anger in Crookshanks' eyes, and Brambleclaw could see that he had thought better of her. He turned around and stalked over to the bushy-haired twoleg.

There was sadness in Squirrelflight's eyes, "he really is a good cat," she told her clanmates, "he can just be a bit petty."

If Crookshanks had heard her, he gave no sign of it.

…

When the train began to slow down again 10 minutes later, the twolegs were not at all panicked. In fact, some of them seemed relieved.

Brambleclaw decided to take this as a sign that there wasn't any threat, and that they had reached their destination.

The cats were herded back into the small cages, and Brambleclaw lost sight of Squirrelflight and Crookshanks in the confusion of twolegs trying to leave. Panic gripped him once more, but he remembered that she would be close. All the twoleg kits were heading in the same direction.

It was not a monster, exactly, that took them to the huge grey structure. It was similar, but did not rumble with the power that the other monsters did. It was small, and rounded, with huge wheels.

And it was not powered by and engine, but by huge, skeletal creatures akin to the horses Brambleclaw had seen on his journey and in the new territories, only they had wings.

But the twolegs paid them no mind when they were climbing into the 'carriages' as Brambleclaw heard them called.

It was almost as if the winged horses were invisible.

The huge building towered above them, and as they grew nearer Brambleclaw began to realise just how huge it was.

There were several towers which jutted out of the main bulk of the building. They were spiked at the top, like teeth. Brambleclaw instantly wished he hadn't made that connection.

The main building at first appeared to consist of just one cube of rock, but on a second glance Brambleclaw realised that it was, in fact, a ring. He couldn't see what it was encircling, but it was probably a defence system for the twoleg territories.

"That's Hogwarts," Neville whispered to his two cats, obviously remembering that they could understand them, "I'll be staying there for a few months."

Months, Brambleclaw realised, must be the twoleg word for moons.

He turned curious eyes up at the twoleg and tilted his head, trying to display his question with his body language.

Understanding, Neville continued, "Hogwarts is a school. I'm going there to learn how to be a wizard."

_Maybe that's their word for warrior, _Brambleclaw guessed.

"Neville, are you talking to your cat?" the amused voice of Ren stopped him.

"You said yourself that pets understand every word we say," Neville protested, looking embarrassed.

"It looks a bit weird, is all I'm saying."

"Actually, the shopkeeper put a spell on him. They should understand me now," Neville said.

"Is that legal?"

"Probably not. That's why I'm reluctant to tell anyone so that he doesn't get in trouble."

"That's so cool, though," Ren said, "do they actually understand everything we say?"

"I think so," Neville said.

_You know so, _Brambleclaw thought, remembering how he and Firestar had nodded in response to Nevilles question.

Ren looked at the cats sceptically, "alright then. Blink twice if you understand me."

Brambleclaw looked at Firestar for permission before doing as she said.

Ren seemed even more enthusiastic that Neville had been.

"That's so cool!" Ren exclaimed.

"Yeah. I'm lucky. If he hadn't done it they might run away. They were wild-caught," Neville told her.

"Don't stress so much about losing things."

"But I lose _everything!" _Neville said hopelessly, "I don't want to lose these cats."

"You won't," Ren assured him.

Guilt flooded through Brambleclaw. He could clearly see that the twoleg was already under stress because he had lost his previous pet, Trevor, in whatever way, and here Brambleclaw was, planning on escaping him at the first chance he got.

_Oh, stop that, _he told himself, _if you carry on like this, you'll start feeling sorry for prey._

…

Somehow, Ren persuaded the nervous Neville to take one of his cats in with him to the 'sorting ceremony', as it was called.

It was like nothing Brambleclaw had ever seen. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of black-furred twolegs swarmed around four long tables. Some had already sat down, while others milled around, as if waiting for others to find them.

"Bye, then," Ren said, and wandered off, away from Neville.

Brambleclaw was confused for a moment before he remembered that Neville and Ren had implied earlier that they were in different clans.

Ren had gone to one of the long tables, while Neville went to another.

_Four tables. One for each clan, _Brambleclaw realised, _they have four clans, just like us!_

He was walking close beside Neville, quietly observing all that was going on around him. When Neville had sat down, he huddled by the twoleg's legs.

Not all of the residents in the room could be defined as twolegs. Some of them were floating creatures. Brambleclaw didn't know how to describe them, except that they were not of this world. They glided and swooped around near the ceiling, occasionally coming down to speak to the normal twolegs below them.

_It's like they're… dead._

These twolegs were lucky, if their warrior ancestors could share tongues with them so freely.

Before he could make any more observations, the doors on the other end of the room flew open.

Led by an older adult twoleg were row after row of young twoleg kits. They were younger than Neville or Ren. They shivered, whether from cold or nerves Brambleclaw did not know.

The lively conversations going on in the room died down almost instantly.

The older adult twoleg placed a small, three-legged seat out in front of the twoleg audience and put on it a ragged-looking hat.

Brambleclaw stared at it. He had picked up the word hat from a twoleg as he was listening to random conversations and he had defined it as a pointed shape that fitted onto a twolegs' head, for whatever reason. Plenty of the twolegs coming in had worn hats. Those had been sleek, black and well-cared for. This one was brown, with creased edges and the top, which was, like the others, tapered into a point, drooped. It looked spent, as if it's time was long gone and it had given up.

Then it moved.

As if the hat had come alive, the creases, which looked suspiciously like a human face, were suddenly animated and a large crease moved as if it were a mouth.

From it, in a creaky, age-old voice, came a song.

Brambleclaw had realised several hours ago that the 'spell' that allowed him to understand the twoleg language had limits in terms of distance, and even if he had been a metre away, the lyrics were moving at a pace too fast for the translation to understand.

But he could still hear the tune. It was a joyful, boisterous piece of music that boasted hopeful melodies without the help of words.

Although the voice of the hat was creaky and unused, the beat was steady, and despite the translation errors, Brambleclaw found himself enjoying it, and was almost disappointed when it came to an abrupt end.

The twoleg kits, and the adults, who were seated at a long table at the head of the room, burst into applause. At least, Brambleclaw thought it was applause. Twolegs seemed to show their appreciation of a performance by clapping their hands together fast and occasionally yowling their approval.

The old twoleg who had led the younger kits out now unrolled a long piece of the material twolegs used to record things on. Brambleclaw remembered seeing Ren note down some thoughts in an untidy scrawl. For all his disapproval of twolegs in general, Brambleclaw had to admit that choosing a symbol for each word and using them to record information was a pretty genius idea.

When the witch spoke, Brambleclaw had to instantly dismiss his theory that distance affected the spell, as her voice rang out loud and clear, so that even he could hear it, "When I call out your name," she told the littler twoleg kits, "you will put on the hat and sit on the stool. When the hat announces your house, you will go to sit at the appropriate table."

Without pause, she began, "Abanto, Derion."

A nervous-looking twoleg stepped out from the small huddle and moved, shaking, to sit on the stool. There he sat. The hall was silent. Brambleclaw tipped his head to the side curiously. Was this some kind of trial? Were they judging how loyal he was to his clan?

Ten seconds past. Then, "RAVENCLAW!" cried the hat. The table to the far right erupted into cheers.

_Ravenclaw? I think Ren mentioned she was in a clan called Ravenclaw. But why did the hat need so much time to judge that?_

Three more twoleg kits had tried on the mysterious talking hat before Brambleclaw got the gist of what was happening, and why Ren had referred to this as 'the sorting ceremony'. Twolegs must not be born into their clans, or houses, as they called them. They were placed into them by this hat. Maybe it was so that specific personality traits had the chance to emerge and twolegs could judge which clan they wanted to join.

And maybe this hat had certain powers that allowed it to do this with complete accuracy.

Magic hat or not, Brambleclaw had just discovered an element of the twoleg world that would be crucial in his escape.

...

**Hi.**

**There are two accountless (I don't think that's what they're called)! reviews on the story. I can't reply with PM, but I just wanted to say thank you, and it means alot to me that you're enjoying my story!**


	4. Squirrelflight gets attacked by a tree

**Disclaimer- I still don't own Warriors or Harry Potter.**

...

Shadowclan hadn't attacked… yet. With every passing day, tension grew in the Thunderclan camp, until even the kits were subdued. Dustpelt knew that until he had sorted the problem of Blackstar's thirst for new territory, life would not go back to normal.

_Why did I have to take over? _He thought, stressed, _anyone would have done a better job at that gathering than me. Even Longtail, and he's blind._

But words spoken in front of all four clans could not be taken back, no matter how much the speaker regretted them.

Dustpelt let out a small growl of frustration and padded over to the fresh-kill pile, where he picked up a mouse and began to take small bites of it. His appetite just wasn't there today, and he didn't want to be overstuffed if Shadowclan chose now as a good time to attack.

_If Firestar isn't back by the next gathering…_

Dustpelt didn't know what he would do if Firestar wasn't back by the next gathering, but he foresaw trouble, at the very least.

No matter how much Dustpelt had stressed at the Gathering that Thunderclan was fine and would be as strong without those missing warriors as with, a nagging doubt was in his mind. Thunderclan wasn't functioning as it usually would. With Firestar, Brambleclaw, Sandstorm and Squirrelflight missing, there were no longer as many cats who were capable of leading patrols. Especially since they were without a proper leader.

Angry yowling broke him from his thoughts. It was a few moments before Cloudtail, Thornclaw and Whitepaw thudded into the camp.

"Windclan have set their markers on our territory!" Thornclaw hissed, his fur bristling.

"Windclan?" Dustpelt echoed.

He had been so busy worrying about Shadowclan, he had completely forgotten about their other neighbour.

"And that's not all," said Cloudtail, "We found a Shadowclan scent trail all the way over to Windclan territory, and back again. They must have planned it together!"

Horrified wails came from the gathered Thunderclan cats.

"Windclan and Shadowclan have united against us!"

"They can attack from both sides!"

"We won't stand a chance!"

All eyes were on Dustpelt now. He sighed, thinking, not for the first time, about how strong Firestar must be to deal with all this responsibility.

"We must prepare for battle," was all he said. It was all he _could _have said, of course. Firestar would rip him to pieces if he came back to find that Dustpelt had led the entirety of his clan away from his territory because of his irresponsible talk at a gathering.

…

"They aren't born into their clans," Brambleclaw told Firestar at his first chance.

"What?" Firestar asked.

"The twolegs. They get sorted in the sorting ceremony," Brambleclaw launched into an explanation of what had happened since Neville had separated them. Firestar listened carefully, occasionally interrupting to ask a question.

When he'd finished, Firestar said, "not being born into your clan doesn't necessarily mean you're not loyal. Look at your sister, Tawnypelt. Can anyone say she's not a loyal Shadowclan warrior?"

"Well, no, but," Brambleclaw ducked his head, having not planned out his argument.

"I'm sure they defend their borders as well as we do. Our plan will still work," Firestar assured him.

Brambleclaw wasn't sure if he wanted to believe it.

…

That night, Brambleclaw dreamed that he was back in the forest. He was ecstatic for a moment, before remembering that this couldn't possibly be real. It was a dream.

"Brambleclaw," the voice was Thunderclan's deceased leader, Bluestar.

"Bluestar," he called. The excited expression vanished off his face, "what's happening back in the forest? Is Thunderclan Ok?"

"There is someone in this castle who can offer you help, Brambleclaw," Bluestar said, ignoring his questions, "you must find her."

"How? I don't know who she is," said Brambleclaw.

"There are two people here, one of whom you've already met, who are actually one person. That's the person you're looking for."

"Who are you talking about?" Brambleclaw cried desperately, "how will I know."

But Bluestar was fading now, "You will know," she said with infinite certainty, "it will be obvious when you have met both of them."

And then Brambleclaw was standing alone in the forest, the scent of prey tantalisingly close.

And then he woke up.

…

True to her word, Ren came to help Neville with the cats at one point.

To Brambleclaw, at least, her entrance was rather amusing.

"Hi Neville."

Neville jumped nearly two tail-lengths into the air, "Ren!" he cried, "don't do that."

"Well, how else was I supposed to announce my presence. Was I supposed to just assume that you have eyes on the back of your head?"

"No, but you could at least make _little _more noise on the way up," Neville said grumpily.

"Make noise? I'm a Ravenclaw in the Gryffindor dormitory, and you expect me to just stomp my way upstairs like some sort of undignified rhinoceros?"

"I've told you, it's fine. No-one's going to murder you for coming here."

"Have you _read _the school rules?"

"No," Neville admitted, "but I'm pretty sure 'murder' is going a little far, even for McGonagall."

Ren groaned, "ugh. I forgot I was sneaking into her House's dormitory. Why couldn't you be a Hufflepuff? I'm sure Sprout wouldn't murder me."

Neville sniffed indignantly, "I'll have you know I was very pleased not to be made a Hufflepuff in my sorting ceremony."

"I can imagine what your Grandmother would think."

Brambleclaw made a wise decision and started to block the conversation out.

"Firestar, are you awake?"

"I am now."

"Ren's here."

There was shuffling, as if Firestar had hauled himself up. A moment later Brambleclaw saw him looking through the wire mesh of his cage.

"How are we going to get her caught?" Brambleclaw asked.

There was a pause, "what if we just yowled really loudly. Maybe someone will come and investigate."

Brambleclaw thought frantically for a counterargument. He still wasn't sure about getting Neville into trouble. The twoleg hadn't exactly been nasty to him.

But there was no reason why this plan would backfire. He could only nod reluctantly.

"HEY," Firestar cried, his voice clear from the practice of calling cats to attention in the clan and at gatherings, "INTRUDER."

Brambleclaw doubted the twolegs could understand what they were saying, but he joined in anyway, "IN THE DORMITORY."

The twolegs in the room were on their feet, looking shocked.

Brambleclaw noticed that Ren was looking particularly annoyed. Looking at her flat twoleg face, he could almost imagine that she understood what they were saying.

He shook himself. That was impossible. Twolegs didn't understand cat.

"SHE'S FROM RAVENCLAW!" He continued, realising that Firestar had been yowling on his own while he had been thinking.

"SHE SHOULDN'T BE HERE!" the Thunderclan leader added.

"SHE'S IN GRYFFINDOR TERRITORY."

Suddenly, the cage was pulled open and Neville reached in, wrapping his paw over Brambleclaw's muzzle. Ren was doing the same to Firestar.

"Do you want to get Ren caught?" the twoleg hissed.

"I think they do," Ren said matter-of-factly, "they obviously don't like me. They probably just don't want me here."

"I'm sure that's not what-" Neville started.

"I'd better go. Someone will have heard that," Ren said before disappearing through the door.

"Fox dung!" exclaimed Firestar, "now we'll never get another chance."

Brambleclaw glanced at his leader, "come on, we're free. Let's escape now."

As if he had only just realised this, Firestar started, "oh, yes. Of course."

But before the cats could get out of the cages, Neville reappeared.

"Oh, no you don't," he snapped, pushing them back in and slamming the door shut

Brambleclaw had never actually seen Neville angry. If the twoleg had been a cat, he would have been bristling with anger. As it was, he just snapped, "I hope you're satisfied. She'll never come back now. She was going to help me look after you. You can understand us. I don't know why you did that, but- but I'm not going to let you out. You can stay in here until I can trust you."

And with that, Neville vanished from the dormitory.

…

Time in the castle passed very slowly. Brambleclaw's paws itched to get out of the cage and hunt, but he was confined here by Neville, who had by now gone completely mad from the thought that his cats might want to escape him.

It would be impossible to attempt another escape, not least because Ren wasn't coming back.

Though Neville and the other twolegs who slept in the dormitory were friendly towards the cats, and it was clear that Neville's 'punishment' for Brambleclaw and Firestar was merely meant to stop them from trying to leave, it was not likely that they would be let out anytime soon.

Neville did not spend much time, other than at night, in the dormitory, so for the most part the cats were left alone.

Day was about to turn once more into a long, boring night when Squirrelflight managed to find her way in.

She announced her presence with a long hiss of, "Brambleclaw? Firestar?"

His head shot to look in the direction of the window, "Squirrelflight?"

"Why haven't you been around the twolegplace?" she demanded, "honestly, I thought you were both dead."

"No need to jump to conclusions, now," came the voice of Crookshanks. The fluffy kittypet had poked his head through the window to gaze at the reunion with interest, "why would they be dead?"

Squirrelflight flicked her tail at him dismissively, and didn't answer.

Crookshanks hauled himself through, "I can't believe you made me climb up to one of the highest dens in the Red-and-gold-twoleg-clan's side," he panted.

"You needed the exercise," Squirrelflight quipped, "you fat kittypet."

Crookshanks huffed, but said nothing.

"It's good to see you again, Squirrelflight," Brambleclaw said gratefully.

"How did you find us?" Firestar mewed.

"We spotted that idiot twoleg of yours going up the tower, so we knew which den you were in. We just climbed up to the opening."

Brambleclaw ducked his head guiltily. While he'd been lazing around in the cage, despairing of ever escaping, Squirrelflight and her friend had been anxiously trying to find them.

The ginger kittypet reached forward and easily hooked his claw under the catch on the cage. The moment the door had swung open, Brambleclaw leaped out, feeling his unused muscles cramp as he stretched them. When both he and Firestar were out, Squirrelflight gave an excited yowl, "come on, we have so much to show you.

At first the climb down from the den seemed a daunting and impossible task, but when Squirrelflight showed him how to hook his claws in the cracks in a way that would support his weight, he began to see the task less as an obstacle, but more as much awaited exercise.

He had never seen the castle's grounds from this angle. They stretched far into the distance, further than any clan territory in the new forest.

"Come on!" Squirrelflight seemed to sense that Brambleclaw hadn't been let out for the last several days. Together, the two cats sprinted across the wide field, giving a large berth around the twolegs who were currently crossing it. It would have made Brambleclaw nervous to be around so many of the creatures, but right now he couldn't bring himself to care. He just wanted to run and run until he reached the forest and Thunderclan once more.

"Wait for me!" came a call from behind them. Brambleclaw stopped and swong around to see Crookshanks. The bulky kittypet was staggering forward after the clan cats, panting for breath.

"You're pathetic," Squirrelflight exclaimed, in a tone of voice so mild that Brambleclaw couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

"You said that- when I- needed help with- that rat. But- you didn't- do any better- than me."

It was a couple of seconds before Crookshanks caught up with them. When he did, Brambleclaw meowed, "what rat?"

Crookshanks opened his mouth to explain, but Squirrelflight got there first, "the first time I spoke to Crookshanks, it was for him to beg me for help with catching this one rat he was having trouble with," she laughed, "it was this tiny thing. Only it was protected by a twoleg. We had a lot of adventures trying to get to it."

"You went near a twoleg to catch a rat?" Firestar sounded unexpectedly stern, "you know they're dangerous. What if it had caught you?"

Squirrelflight bristled, "that fat twoleg couldn't have caught me if it tried for a thousand moons. Do you think I'm not fast enough to escape a slow twoleg."

"I just think you should be more careful," Firestar told her.

Squirrelflight huffed, but didn't answer.

"Did you catch the rat?" Brambleclaw asked by way of releasing the tension.

"No," Crookshanks hissed, "it got away. But we're still trying."

"I would have caught it by now if that dumb twoleg wasn't protecting it. What does the twoleg want with it, anyway. Is it saving it for a meal?" Squirrelflight mewed.

"Maybe they keep rats the same way they keep cats and dogs," Brambleclaw suggested.

Squirrelflight shrugged, "maybe."

Brambleclaw decided to change the subject away from Squirrelflight's failed attempt at catching a rat. He looked around, "which way do you think clan territory is?"

"I can't smell it," Squirrelflight said sadly, "so we have no way of knowing."

"It's probably moons worth of journeying away," Brambleclaw's tail drooped.

"What you need is a twoleg," Crookshanks meowed. When everyone stared at him, he said, "their territories are vast. I'm sure they'd be able to point you in the right direction."

"How do you know their territories are vast?" asked Firestar.

"Because my twoleg took me on a long journey to get here, and met no resistance from another clan," Crookshanks explained.

Brambleclaw, who's tail had lifted a little at the plan (if a cat could be magically made to understand the twoleg language, why not the other way around?), was again looking crestfallen, "then maybe they just don't have territories," he mewed quietly, "it might be that they just live in one big group and don't really know the land very well."

After all, no-one could possibly remember everything about a huge amount of land. And they would be hard-pressed to even find a twoleg who could understand them, let alone help them.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't really want to go around to every twoleg yowling 'I'm lost' at the top of my voice until we find one which can give us directions," Squirrelflight pointed out.

Firestar nodded, "we'll have to think of a better option."

"While we're thinking, why don't we hunt. I haven't eaten anything but twoleg pellets since we were taken," Brambleclaw suggested.

"Hunt? Where?" mewed Crookshanks, "the only rat I know around here is currently asleep in a twoleg's pelt."

"Oh, and you've gone around the whole twoleg territories mapping out where all the prey is, have you?" Brambleclaw challenged.

"Well, no, but-"

"Come on. There's got to be something around here," Brambleclaw said hopefully.

Firestar scented the air. A confused expression on his face, he said, "well, I don't smell any prey, but there is something strange in that direction."

Brambleclaw copied him, "you're right."

Wordlessly, the four cats followed the scent. Brambleclaw had never smelled anything quite like it. There were forest smells, but they were mixed in with something dark and lifeless.

He was so busy concentrating on his sense of smell that he crashed straight into Squirrelflight.

Usually, the fiery ginger cat would have spat angrily at him, but now she just looked puzzled, and a bit frightened.

"Well," she said, "it's a tree."

Brambleclaw looked up. Silhouetted against the darkening sky was an enormous tree. It would have towered above the huge oaks at fourtrees. But this tree wasn't an oak. It wasn't any type of tree Brambleclaw had seen before. It's branches were whip-thin and drooped, like a willow. But from Brambleclaw's experience, willow trees were full of light, whereas this tree reeked of darkness.

There was something different about this tree. Something that made Brambleclaw's fur crawl.

"Twolegs just love their dark, creepy objects, don't they?" Crookshanks joked. Despite the playful tone, his ears were flat and his pelt fluffed up.

Brambleclaw grunted his agreement.

"It's just a tree, guys," Squirrelflight mewed, contempt dripping from her every word, "it's not going to attack you."

To prove her point, she took some steps forward. When nothing happened, a few more. The nervousness evident on her face, showing Brambleclaw that despite her brave words she was terrified, she broke into a swift trot.

"NO! Stay back from there!" came a voice from behind the cats.

Squirrelflight turned to see who had shouted, edging back in the direction of the tree.

The other cat was a black and white she-cat with a long bushy tail. She was hurrying towards the cats. Brambleclaw tensed his muscles, ready for a fight.

There was a horrible groaning sound. Brambleclaw's head snapped back in the direction of the noise.

The tree was moving. At first he thought it was falling over, but only some of the branches were moving.

His breath caught in his throat. They were moving _towards _Squirrelflight, who, still glaring at the stranger with hostility, hadn't even heard the sound.

Frozen with horror, he called her name, "behind you!"

The ginger she-cat swung around. She spotted the whip-like branches and froze.

"Move!" Crookshanks shouted.

But Squirrelflight didn't move. In wordless terror, she stared at the treacherous branches as they moved ever closer to her.

Time seemed to slow down. Brambleclaw was rooted to the spot.

So was everyone else.

And then a streak of black and white cut across his vision as, faster than even a Windclan cat, the stranger raced towards Squirrelflight.

Just as the thin branches hit the ground with a surprisingly heavy thud, the she-cat cannoned into Squirrelflight and shoved her out the way.

But it wasn't over. More branches rose to the challenge and flew at the two cats. Squirrelflight, who seemed to be recovering, sprang up and raced away, followed by her rescuer.

Brambleclaw breathed a sigh of relief when both she-cats got out of reach of the flailing branches. Though the dark willow strained and even ripped out some of it's own roots in it's rage, it could no longer reach them. Even so, the cats ran far away before daring to stop.

"What in Starclan's name," Squirrelflight gasped, "was that?"

...

**This chapter was a bit of a nightmare to write because I'm trying to write something else as well. I've re-written it several times and I'm still not happy with it. I promise the next one will be better!**


	5. Author's note

**This story is going on hiatus.**

**I am sorry if you are enjoying it, but updating has become more of a chore than a fun activity to me and I have other stories I would rather get on with. I may be posting another crossover I am writing, but it's far from finished and right now I want to focus all my attention on it.**

**I will probably return to it in a few months, probably with some pre-written chapters and a real idea of where the plots heading. I hate to leave a story unfinished.**

**Again, I am sorry, and I hope my small writers block on this story will end soon.**


	6. Discontinued and up for adoption

**I won't be continuing this.**

**I have about 20 other projects I want to get finished and I just can't find the time for this one anymore.**

**That said, I would be happy if anyone wants to take over. I understand that this had a lot of potential, and I myself had loads of ideas for what I could do with it. If anyone is interested, just PM me and I could send you the half-finished next chapter and some of the ideas I had. I would be very willing to beta it if you like.**

**I'm really sorry I couldn't continue, but I just felt like I would never regain the commitment I was once able to give it.**


	7. Does anyone want this to be continued?

**Hi. I know I put up a message a few months ago saying that this story wouldn't be continued, and I've already received an offer from someone to adopt it, but I read through it and decided I wanted to continue it.**

**I don't know how many people actually care about the story enough to want me to continue it, but if I get a few people who are interested, I might continue.**

**I got a review from someone who wanted to adopt the story, but I couldn't contact them through PMs. If you're reading this and you still want to adopt it, just contact me and I'll give it to you.**

**I'm so sorry for all the confusion and authors notes and stuff. I just went off this story as time went on, and when I didn't feel motivated again I panicked and said it was discontinued. I still want to write it, and I realise now that it's normal to go through phases of enthusiasm when you're writing a story.**

**I have a pre-written chapter for if I do decide to continue it. I'm excited to find out if people do care enough about my story to respond to this message.**

**If I don't get a response, then this will be the last message on this story.**

**Thanks.**


	8. A Strange She-cat

**Hello. I put up that author's note half-expecting to have no-one respond. I was suprised to find that some of the people who used to read this still have their eyes out for updates. I'm very grateful to everyone who responded.**

**I am, as you may have noticed, indeed continuing this story. This is a chapter I have been working on for quite a while. I've rewritten in a couple of times and I think I'm happy with the result.**

**I hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors or Harry Potter.**

Dustpelt was leading a border patrol when Windclan attacked.

"I can't believe how far Windclan have pushed the border this way," Cloudtail said with an angry sniff.

Dustpelt gave a non-committal grunt.

"We should put our scents where they were originally," the white warrior went on.

"Of course," Dustpelt agreed.

"Or maybe we should show them that we're not afraid of them by putting them further," suggested Sorreltail.

"Good idea," Cloudtail said.

Before Dustpelt could agree, he was jolted sideways as a large weight slammed into his side. With a hiss, he rolled and threw the enemy off, and, partly from Dustpelt's strength and partly from his own momentum, the cat was thrown further into Thunderclan territory.

_A cat who falls for that trick must be inexperienced, _Dustpelt observed.

Sure enough, an apprentice, who Dustpelt vaguely recognised as Weaselpaw, was standing where Dustpelt had thrown him. He had been lucky. About a tail length to the right of where he had landed was a large thorn bush.

More Windclan warriors were charging across the border, and Dustpelt saw Onestar leading them. Some paused to confront the Thunderclan patrol, while others took advantage of the distraction and ran in the direction of the camp.

"No!" Dustpelt yowled. He cast around for the nearest Thunderclan cat, "Whitepaw! Try to get ahead of them! Warn the clan!"

Whitepaw didn't respond. Quick as one of the twoleg monsters, she shot off through the trees in the direction the cats had gone.

There were four Windclan cats left fighting Dustpelt's patrol. One, a large black-pelted tom, had Cloudtail by the paw and was refusing to release the Thunderclan warrior. Cloudtail was twisting, swiping at his attacker's muzzle with his free paw. Dustpelt could tell he needed help.

But before he could go to the aid of his clanmate, Sorreltail got there first. She dragged the warrior by the tail until he was forced to let go of Cloudtail in order to snap at her. Cloudtail took advantage of the opportunity and managed to slash the Windclan warrior's side. The cat yowled and ran off in the direction of the Thunderclan camp, where Windclan was likely to be winning.

"Fall back," Dustpelt called to his remaining warriors, "we have to help the others at the camp."

Sorreltail and Cloudtail obeyed almost instantly, to Dustpelt's surprise.

In a desperate race, the Thunderclan and Windclan cats pelted towards the Thunderclan camp.

…

"A what?" said Squirrelflight, still fighting to catch her breath.

"A Whomping willow. The upwalkers planted it. I think it guards the secret entrance," the strange cat explained.

"Twolegs do sometimes do some weird things," Brambleclaw agreed.

Not even looking slightly confused at the term he had used, the cat sat down and licked a paw, "you can say that again."

Squirrelflight was still glaring at the other cat, so Brambleclaw said the thanks for her, "thank you for saving Squirrelflight's life."

"I could have got away on my own," the ginger warrior insisted.

Firestar shot his daughter a sharp look, "what Squirrelflight means to say is that she is very grateful."

"I'm sure," Brambleclaw didn't know if the cat was being sarcastic, but he saw the humorous glint in her eyes and relaxed.

"What's your name?" asked Crookshanks.

"I don't… really have a name. But the upwalkers- did you call them twolegs? call me Pyrena," the cat- Pyrena told them, "you can call me that."

"My name's Crookshanks," Crookshanks said.

Giving Pyrena a polite nod of greeting, Firestar also introduced himself.

"I'm Brambleclaw."

There was a pause, in which everyone looked at Squirrelflight, who snapped, "I think Pyrena knows my name is Squirrelflight, since you mouse-brains tend to criticize me every five seconds."

"Even so, it would be nice if you could be polite and tell her anyway," Firestar told her.

"It's fine," Pyrena said, flicking her tail.

Brambleclaw purred in amusement and flicked Squirrelflight's flank with his tail affectionately. She scowled at him.

"Where are you guys from?" Pyrena asked conversationally as the group of cats walked casually through the forest.

"I've always been a kittypet," Crookshanks told her.

"I was a kittypet until a few moons ago. My Upwalker was a cartographer."

"A what?"

"A map-maker."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what a map is," Crookshanks admitted.

"It's this thing Upwalkers use. It's to help them find their way through their territories. It's sort of a depiction of what the land would look like from above. Their territories are huge, you see, so they need a better way of finding their way around."

Brambleclaw stopped dead, "do you still know where he is?"

Pyrena looked puzzled, "I imagine I could find my way back."

"Can you use these maps?" Squirrelflight asked, catching on to Brambleclaw's thoughts.

"I-I've never tried. But I have a vague idea of how they work. But you'd need a compass. I don't know where we'd get one of those."

"Surely your twoleg has one of those," said Brambleclaw.

"Well… yes. But he keeps it in a very safe place," Pyrena told them, "look. If you told me what this is about, then I might be able to help you."

"We need to find our way home," Brambleclaw told her, "we got taken here against our will."

"Oh," Pyrena said. She looked worried, "I could help you, if it was possible to get to my twoleg in the first place."

"What do you mean. Do you not know the way?" asked Crookshanks.

"I do. But- this place is guarded."

"By what? I didn't see anything when we were coming in," Squirrelflight pointed out.

"Didn't you? Can't you think of anything that could be here to keep us all in?" Pyrena said.

Annoyed at her tone, Brambleclaw snapped, "no, I can't."

Pyrena sighed, "follow me."

Pyrena led them back towards the Whomping Willow, but she turned sharply before they could go in range. She was staring up at the sky, as if looking for something. Finally, she halted, "just there," she directed, nodding towards something.

Brambleclaw followed her gaze, as did the others.

Suspended in the air, cloak floating in an invisible wind, was a shape that was horribly familiar.

It was the Dementor

Not _the _Dementor, Brambleclaw realised. _A _Dementor. Behind the creature were more, almost undefinable black smudges on the horizon. Though they were far away, it was undeniable what they were.

"There are hundreds of them," Squirrelflight whispered.

She was right. Now that Brambleclaw knew what to look for, more of the twoleg-like creatures were coming into focus. A cloud- no- a _swarm _of Dementors.

And it was undeniable what their task was.

_Guard the school._

_…_

"Do you think they're there to keep the kits in?" Squirrelflight asked tensely as the five cats hurried back towards the huge stone structure.

Pyrena shrugged her sleek shoulders, "I don't know exactly why they are here, but they came only about a moon ago. The only information I can get my paws on is that something big is going on in the twoleg world. I've been here almost my whole life, and things have never been as tense with them. They used to come outside in their thousands everyday between lessons, but now the adult twolegs don't let them after a certain time of day. If I had to guess, I would say they aren't so much guarding against the kits getting out, than against something getting _in._"

Brambleclaw shuddered at the ominous feeling that surrounded those words.

"These twolegs aren't like any twolegs I've ever seen," Firestar added, "they can make strange things happen. Earlier, I saw one holding a handful of flames. And they created a pathway through solid stone. And they have a dangerous tree on the same territory they use for training kits. Even ordinary twolegs are extremely powerful. If they're afraid of something, then it must be a serious threat."

Pyrena nodded, "these twolegs are what is known among the cats around here as Magics. They can control the dormant powers and warp the world in ways that shouldn't be possible."

"Do you think there are cats like that?" Brambleclaw wondered.

"I don't know. I've never met one. Then again, I don't think the non-magic and magic twolegs have much contact with each other. I don't think non-Magics know about Magics. It could be possible that magic cats are there, just in hiding," Pyrena said.

Brambleclaw shook his head to dislodge the feeling of hopelessness that was threatening to overcome him, "is there no way past them at all?" he cried.

"Not for a cat. I know of some twolegs who might be able to fight them off. But I-I've only ever known of it working on one Dementor at a time. Not this many. Not all at once," Pyrena said.

"But what if all the twolegs worked together," Squirrelflight suggested.

But Pyrena shook her head, "it's hopeless. Maybe you guys should give up on going home, unless you want to become Magics yourself."

"Why couldn't we?" Firestar asked.

"Many cats have tried," the she-cat said, "but even twolegs have to practise for moons before attempting simple pieces of magic."

"How do you know this much?" snapped Crookshanks, "I've been around Magics my entire life, and yet I didn't even know anyone called them Magics until now."

To Brambleclaw's surprise, Pyrena gave an amused purr, "you've clearly never been to Hogwarts before," she said, "it's very hard not to be interested by the twoleg's strange ways here."

Crookshanks didn't looked entirely satisfied by her answer. Instead, the ginger tom glared suspiciously at her until she meowed, "well, it's been nice meeting you all, but I expect you would want to get back to your twolegs. They'll be getting worried."

Looking up at the sky, Brambleclaw noticed for the first time that the sun was creeping closer to the horizon, and the shadows were growing longer. Wherever their clanmates were, they would be settling down to sleep by now.

"You are right," the Thunderclan leader agreed.

"Thank you for answering some of our questions," his deputy added.

Squirrelflight gave Pyrena a dip of her head.

_This is your last chance, Squirrelflight, _Brambleclaw found himself thinking, _thank her properly. Some mature warrior you are!_

As if reading Brambleclaw's mind, Squirrelflight meowed softly, "I never did thank you for saving me."

"That's fine, Squirrelflight," Pyrena meowed, smiling. And with a wave of her tail and a polite nod, the black and white she-cat stalked away in the direction they had come.

"Are we going back to Neville," Brambleclaw asked Firestar.

Firestar hesitated, "he might try to lock us up again."

"Or he might see that you've come back and trust you more in the future," Crookshanks put in, "I had a friend whose twoleg was like that. He escaped once, came back, and the twoleg let him out more often afterwards."

"And plus, you need food. We didn't manage to hunt today," Squirrelflight added.

Firestar nodded, "then shall we meet here again tomorrow, in the same place?"

"We'll see if we can catch that rat," Squirrelflight promised with a flick of her tail, "he might be a small, scrawny creature, but I don't know any other places to get fresh-kill."

"Be careful," Brambleclaw warned, remembering what Squirrelflight had said about it being guarded by a twoleg.

"Of course," the she-cat huffed.

Firestar and Brambleclaw had further to climb than Squirrelflight and Crookshanks, so the four cats parted halfway up the stone castle. Squirrelflight and Crookshanks crawled into a well-lit room which looked similar to the one Brambleclaw knew.

…

Squirrelflight was on the edge of sleep. She was in that drifting state where it feels like you're falling. She could feel the warm nest around her, but it was fading, fading, into the merciful bliss of sleep.

"That she-cat's bad news," Crookshanks snapped from the cage beside her.

Squirrelflight's consciousness came flooding back. She fought back a groan of annoyance and instead snapped, "Crookshanks! You woke me up!" it wasn't entirely true, but it was close enough to the truth so that Squirrelflight didn't feel guilty.

He appeared not to have heard her, "there's something… off about her."

She sniffed in irritation, "what she-cat?"

"You know the one I'm talking about, Squirrelflight. Pyrena," he meowed.

"What's 'off' about her?" asked Squirrelflight, rolling over and closing her eyes again.

Crookshanks snorted, "I don't know. Maybe the fact that she just came waltzing in," Squirrelflight decided not to inquire as to what 'waltzing' was, "answering all our questions, and rescuing us from disaster, and-"

"Crookshank's, that doesn't mean she's bad news! If anything, it means she's good news. What were the chances of us just running into a cat who knew that much about twoleg society?"

"I know that," he said, sounding almost as annoyed as she had a moment ago when he first started talking, "but- I don't know."

"You know, but you don't know? Maybe you should go to sleep and we should restart this conversation in the morning," Squirrelflight suggested.

"But she knows so much! There's no way she could have picked up that knowledge as a cat. Maybe- maybe _she's _a Magic," Crookshanks argued.

Squirrelflight scoffed, "are you telling me she's a twoleg, now?"

"Of course not! But I'm just saying we should be cautious."

"The fact that she knows more about twolegs than you isn't a reason to think she's a bad cat. She's just spent longer around them than you have," Squirrelflight reasoned.

Crookshanks gave an annoyed huff, but didn't respond. After a moment, his breathing slowed down and he seemed to have fallen asleep.

Squirrelflight turned her gaze to the top of her cage, the idea of sleep suddenly not sounding so alluring. What Crookshanks had said had got her thinking.

Pyrena… that wasn't a cat name like any she had ever heard.

If anything, it was a Twoleg name.

**...**

**Haha. I had this chapter waiting for the whole time I was on hiatus, and I still decided to leave you guys with a little cliffhanger. I'm so evil. **

**Just a little warning, updates on this story are... likely to be scarce. I have two other long stories being updated. It might even go down to once every two months. I do like this story, but it's currently at the bottom of the 'pecking order' compared to the others. If necessary, I will delay updates on this in order to keep some semblance of regularity to the updates of Plan: Apprentices and One Final Chance.**

**If you're not willing to wait for long periods of time, then I suggest you try not to get too invested in this story or maybe forget about it for a few months then check back when there's more chapters ready.**

**Thanks for reading. Please leave a review.**


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